Since the integrity of Mobile County’s election process has been questioned, I feel compelled to respond to the June 19 editorial, "Missing primary ballots taint recount."

The recount revealed two significant problems at two precincts. However, let’s not forget that there were no major problems in 96 of Mobile County’s 98 election precincts.

Mobile County’s poll worker training materials have become the model for other Alabama counties. A visual presentation is accompanied by a written poll worker guide that contains clear instructions and includes photographs of each major task a poll worker encounters during an election.

All June 1 poll workers were specifically informed about what materials are to be returned at the conclusion of an election.

A hands-on demonstration of the ballot counter and AutoMark (the marking device available for persons with disabilities) is also afforded to every poll worker.

All 770 persons who were appointed to serve as full-time or half-day poll workers were required to attend a training session before the June 1 primary election.

All196 inspectors and chief clerks (the leaders of the individual polls) were required to attend training sessions on May 28. Additionally, it should be noted that the vast majority of the poll workers have served before (and have attended earlier training sessions).

At each poll worker training session, we encounter some attendees who have served as poll workers before, who complain about having to attend another training class. My response has been that we aren’t mind-readers. We don’t know what procedure or detail they may have forgotten, and we must make certain everyone is freshly informed.

The missing-voted-ballot situation proves this point.

I disagree with the editorial’s implication that Mobile County’s poll worker training program is inadequate. I acknowledge that one precinct’s voted ballots could not be located following the June 1 election. We are at a loss to understand why this happened. We don’t want it to happen again.

It is not my intent to offer excuses for what occurred in terms of the missing voted ballots, but I feel compelled to note that in Alabama, elections are conducted by the citizens under the direction of governmental officials. Generally the citizens conducting elections do so on three different days spread out over a five-month time span, once every two years.

Second, most of Mobile County’s poll workers serve in their position from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election days. This is a long day for any adult. We just obtained legal authorization to utilize poll workers for half-day shifts, and half-day poll workers were utilized on June 1. But we didn’t have enough interested persons to do this for every poll worker position in every precinct.

Further, in 2006 Mobile County was required by the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and Alabama state guidelines implementing HAVA to change its voting machine system.

The former Shouptronic "direct record" (electric push-button) system afforded fewer opportunities for human interaction and human error to affect the election process. There were no paper ballots and overall a lot less ballot accounting work to be done due to the nature of the former system.

Mobile County’s new ES&S voting machine system involves much more human interaction in the election process. Unfortunately, with greater human interaction comes an increased chance of human error.

We will have mandatory training sessions with all poll inspectors and chief clerks today, ahead of Tuesday’s primary runoff. We will have mandatory training for all poll workers in County Commission District 2 because of the different nature of what they will encounter Tuesday, when we have two elections occurring at the same time in their precincts.

Also, all precinct inspectors and chief clerks of the precincts located in County Commission Districts 1 and 3 were asked to meet with their poll workers to prepare for Tuesday’s runoff.

Finally, a staff member from probate court will be present Tuesday at the poll where the June 1 problem occurred, to try and assure that these poll workers correctly perform their tasks.

The Hillcrest Baptist Church poll’s machine problem and resulting "over-vote" matter also has been addressed.

This problem arose as a result of a county employee encountering a mechanical problem for the first time and not informing the court’s IT employees about a directive given by the employee to the precinct’s poll workers when a machine became non-operational.

Additional procedures have been implemented that will better identify serious machine problems and better ensure that the court’s staff who are tabulating the results at the conclusion of the election are fully informed of any major machine operational problem that may affect the tabulation process.

Don Davis is probate judge of Mobile County.The Press-Register welcomes reader submissions for "Your Word" on topics of general interest. They should contain about 650 words and be mailed to: "Your Word," P.O. Box 2488, Mobile, Ala. 36652 or sent via e-mail to letters@press-register.com.